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I used to call black people くろじん, either because I mistakenly read 黒人{こくじん} as such or because I heard it somewhere (or both), until I was told by another Japanese learner that こくじん is more politically correct.

Looking into it, I can't find the word in the dictionary.

I actually used くろじん for a while and was never corrected on it. I learned こくじん by asking what it meant, after someone said it.

Is this all my mistake, or is it actually a word? If so, is it derogatory?

@AndrewGrimm Interesting, I wonder which meaning she meant. Gogen has some uncited theories. One uses しろひと and くろひと in an analogous way that reminded me of martial art belt rankings. Here though 黒 would be the root...
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LouisMar 9 at 6:19

2 Answers
2

It is not a word. Perhaps people understood what you were saying and had not bothered to correct you. When on-reading is mistakenly read as kun-reading, it is often easy to tell what you mean even if it is not correct.

I have purposely missed used the on/kun readings jokingly on some words and don't get corrected as often as I thought. Japanese are often too polite to tell you that you are wrong.
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BillyNairJul 13 '12 at 22:35

Oddly enough I was referred to as くろじゃ by elementary school students and one old man when I went to Japan for a ten day exchange. I figured out こくじん was the correct term before those incidents, and I became confused after hearing natives say another way.